The inspection took place on the 23 and 24 April 2018 and was announced.

Leigh Court Centre provides personal care and care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented, and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

There were two houses, one in Bristol and the other in Clevedon. One other person received personal care within the North Somerset area. Both houses had a kitchen, dining area, an office and a staff sleeping room. People lived in their own flats that had a kitchenette area, bed, bathroom and chair and or dining area. The service was registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection the service was delivering personal care to 11 people.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People’s support from Leigh Court Centre was individualised person centred care that enabled people to live meaningful lives. People enjoyed participating and achieving individual goals that were inclusive and personal to them. People received care that improved their health, wellbeing, independence and that enabled them to gain new skills and access their local community.

People and relatives felt the care provided was supportive and kind and caring. The service had a positive culture that enabled staff to feel valued and recognised for the work they did. Staff received training, supervisions and an annual appraisal as well as bespoke training as required. People, relatives and staff all spoke highly of the value of the organisation and this was reflected in their experiences.

The organisation respected people. People experienced care that was dignified and inclusive respecting people’s individual characteristics. People were enabled to live healthier lives which was reflected in people’s achievements including improvement to their health and diet.

There were effective quality assurance systems in place that identified shortfalls including any actions required. People and relatives feedback was actively sought by the service through questionnaires, meetings, and an electronic satisfaction system. All feedback received as part of the inspection described the service as meaningful, supportive and empowering.

People and staff felt the service was safe, inflection control procedures were adhered to prevent cross infection.

Leigh Court Centre provides personal care and support to people with learning disabilities and mental illness living in their own homes in North Somerset and Bristol. At the time of this inspection there were 13 people who received support from the service. The support people received ranged from a half an hour each week to a few hours each week. The service provided domiciliary support to people in their own homes and a supported living service. A supported living service is where people have a tenancy agreement with a landlord and receive their care and support from a care provider. As the housing and care arrangements were entirely separate people can choose to change their care provider if they wished without losing their home.

The inspection took place on 15 December 2015 and was announced.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives were happy with support arrangements provided. They told us they were safe and treated with respect.

The service had not sought the views of relatives to gauge their satisfaction and make improvements to the service. The registered manager had plans to cascade the satisfaction survey to relatives for their feedback.

Systems were in place to protect people from harm and abuse and staff knew how to follow them. The service had systems to ensure medicines were administered and stored correctly and securely. There were enough staff available to keep people safe and meet their needs. A recruitment procedure was in place and staff received pre-employment checks before starting work with the service.

Risk assessments had been carried out and they contained guidance for staff on protecting people. Care plans provided information about how people wished to be cared for and staff were aware of people’s individual care needs. People had access to healthcare services and were supported to attend health appointments where required.

Staff received training to understand their role and they completed training to ensure the care and support provided to people was safe. New members of staff received an induction which included shadowing experienced staff before working independently. Staff received supervision and told us they felt supported.

People’s preferences were recorded and arrangements were in place to ensure that these were responded to. Staff were knowledgeable regarding the individual care needs and preferences of people. Reviews of care had been carried out so that people could express their views and experiences regarding the care provided.

There were systems in place to receive feedback from people who use the service. People were confident if they raised concerns these would be responded to. Most of the relatives we spoke with were aware of the complaints procedure and confident the registered manager would respond.

The registered manager and provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. The registered manager and staff shared a vision for the service and created an action plan with people who used the service and staff that was regularly reviewed and updated.

We looked at standards relating to medicines and to record keeping which were not being met when we inspected Leigh Court Centre in August 2013.

As part of this inspection we visited two houses that were shared by people who received support from the service. People we met with spoke positively about the support they received with their medicines. We saw that arrangements were in place which promoted people’s independence to manage their medication.

We found that the upkeep of the records had improved. The records we looked at were more fully completed and the information recorded was legible. Changes had been made, which helped to ensure that confidentiality of personal information was maintained.

We spoke with four of the six people who used the service. We spoke with the assistant manager of the scheme and three care workers.

People told us what they thought about the service they received from the staff who visited them in their individual flats. We met one person who lived in a flat who received support with their personal care from the agency. Examples of comments made included “the staff are kind”, “they are very good to me”, “the staff make my meals, I like them ”, and “the staff are good to me”.

People had a copy of their personal care plan in their flats. The care plans clearly showed how the staff provided people with the personal care they required. People benefited because they were supported by staff who had a good insight into their range of needs and how to assist them to meet them.

People were supported by staff who understood their role in keeping them safe from the risk of abuse.

People felt well supported by the staff and there were a sufficient number of them to properly meet their care needs.

People were encouraged by the staff to make complaints about the service if they had them. When people made complaints they were properly investigated by the provider.

People who used the service received a range of support according to their individual needs. For some people, this included assistance with personal care and our inspection looked at the support that these people received. As part of the inspection we visited a house where people who used the service had their own accommodation. We spoke with one person who lived in another house with people who also received support from Leigh Court Centre.

People told us that they talked to staff about the support they wanted. The staff team were described as "very good". People said that staff helped with their daily activities, such as making appointments and managing their money.

People's independence was being promoted in the community. Plans had been written which set out the support that had been agreed with people. The plans helped to ensure that staff supported people in a consistent way which met their individual needs.

Support with medicines was included in people’s individual plans. One person told us that staff helped them with their tablets which they felt was safer for them. However, we found that there was a risk to people’s health and wellbeing because of a lack of accurate information about the medication they received.

The staff told us that they felt supported in their work and received training and supervision on a regular basis. Arrangements were being made to monitor the quality of service that people received.